WHO reform: Democratic pathways for a sustainable leadership in global health

Geneva, 23 May 2012, Briefing for delegates and other members of the public health community attending the 65th World Health Assembly

In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) set out
to reform itself, a process why may result in repositioning the
agency's function in global health and reshaping the way in which the WHO
is governed, managed and financed. It is critical to ensure that this
important initiative does not compromise the leading, coordinating and
norm-setting role of the WHO enshrined in the agency's Constitution.

Initially the WHO played a unique role in promoting
healthas a basic human right, but since the end of the '80s the organization
has been increasingly sidelined by various trade and competition rules. In this
way health and other fundamental human rights have come to be regarded as
subject to availability of finance, rather than as basic non-negotiable rights.

The WHO reform is a complex process and it has
much to do with the role of the UN - and multilateralism - in today’s world. Priority
setting, management and governance - today at the heart of the WHO
reform - are profoundly intertwined issues.The
way these three pillars of the WHO are designed and negotiated in the future
bears significant political implications.

Public interest civil society organizations have
historically played a key role in promoting the right to health and the
constitutional role of the WHO. Today they are striving to ensure that -
through the reform - the WHO will significantly improve its work as a multilateral
organization pursuing its public policy agenda for global health, with
democratic governance, and protected from undue influence from vested
interests.

The WHA side event hosted by the
Medicus Mundi International Network (MMI) for the Democratising Global Health
Coalition on the WHO Reform (DGH) provided the venue for an open and public
dialogue on issues that civil society organizations consider critical for
building a healthy future for the WHO. The panel also presented some ways
forward to be considered by member states to ensure WHO's policy leadership on
health, its ultimate responsibility.

..................Civil society input

Armando De Negri, World Social Forum for Health and Social Security, Brazil